Matt Doherty told he's keeping his Wolves place

The 21-year-old Republic of Ireland Under-21 international has played the last four games and impressed, scoring his first goal for the club in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Doherty has replaced the experienced Kevin Foley, who has since had to have an injection for an ankle injury.

But manager Dean Saunders, who wants to bring in Blackpool defender Alex Baptiste in the summer, believes Doherty has made the place his own on merit.

When asked, Saunders said: “At the minute, yes. He’s done well enough to stay in the team. He got his first goal and he has done well.

“His positional play is good for a young player – half the battle is standing in the right place when the ball is on the opposite side or seeing danger and tracking people’s runs.

“He’s got a good attitude, he’s strong and he’s got an eye for a goal and an assist as well. He also got in behind their back four on Saturday when he rolled the ball across the face of the goal and we needed to score there.

"So considering he’s only a young man, he’s doing well.”

Saunders added Doherty will join Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Dave Edwards and Danny Batth in being recommended for a new contract.

Asked if he might be recommending the Irish youngster for a new deal, he said: “Yes, and Danny. And, eventually, we will have some younger players in the team to get the average age of the squad down.

“Part of my job is to bring some of the younger lads through as well.”